A Birthday Greeting

My friend and fellow Stampin' Up! TM enthusiast, Diana, celebrated her birthday last Friday.  If she's like me, it was her 29th.  LOL  The girls and I decided she needed some cards and since our Tote-ally Tess set had just arrived, we all opted to use Tote-ally Tess.  The girls were actually the first to use this stamp set, but that is no surprise. 

First, I'll share the cards the girls made.  Here is Tessa's Card:

Now Phoebe's card:

Last but not least, Isabel's card:

Isabel added the sentiment, "and so is your birthday" on the back of the card.  I already know that this stamp set is going to be used often in our household.

Now for the card and treat I made.  As I said before, I wanted to use Tote-ally Tess.  For her clothes, I used the paper piecing technique.  For paper piecing, you stamp your image on muliple colors/types of papers and then cut the sections you need and glue them to your main image.  It's a pretty simple technique but requires sharp scissors and a steady hand to be sure you get clean lines.  I also incorporated a the faux marble technique using shaving cream.  I had tried this for Phoebe's birthday invitations and had some pieces left over when I cut the pieces I needed for her invitations.  I'll share those later.

For this card, you will need the following items:

• Tote-ally Tess stamp set
• The More the Merrier Stamp Set
• Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry Re-inkers
• Brocade Blue card stock
• Bermuda Bay card stock
• Very Vanila card stock
• Melon Mambo Patterns Designer Series Paper
• Stampin' Pastels
• Watercolor Pencils
• Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
• Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
• Versamark Pen
• Black Embossing Powder
• Crystal Effects
• Shimmer Paint
• Shaving Cream

For the faux marble technique, you need some shaving cream and your re-inkers.  Spread your shaving cream out onto a cookie sheet or other pan.  You need enough to cover a surface the size of your paper.  Add a few drops of your two re-inker colors to your shaving cream and then swirl them around to get a marbled effect.  Similar to the way you'd do a marble cake.  Then, lay your paper on top of the shaving cream making sure you get all the paper covered with shaving cream.  You'll have quite a bit of shaving cream on your paper so kiss it against another piece of card stock to transfer some of the cream.  Then, wipe off the cream using a paper towel and a swirling pattern as you wipe.  Then, let it dry.  Once dry, cut it into the desired size/shape.  You can stamp images onto this as I ended up doing with Phoebe's invites which I'll share later this week.

To create Tess, I first stamped her onto the Very Vanilla.  I colored the shoes with the Versamark Pen and then sprinkled a bit of Black Embossing Powder and used my heat gun to set it.  You have to do this more quickly than you do when using a stamp pad.  I used my Pastels for her face and hair.  I then stamped Tess onto the DSP and the Brocade Blue, cutting out just the blouse and pants.  I glued the pants and then the shirt onto my Very Vanilla image, completing Tess.  I also brushed the edges of my card stock with Melon Mambo ink.

The cupcake is from The More the Merrier as is the sentiment.  I stamped the cupcake and then colored with Watercolor Pencils.   I cut out the cupcake and added to Tess's hands.  I layered the sentiment onto a piece of my shaving cream marble paper.  I also added a strip of the marble paper onto the left side of my card which uses the Bermuda Bay card stock.  On the inside, I stamped a birthday sentiment.

For Diana's gift, I knew Stampin' Up! TM products would be enjoyed so I created a little gift bag and filled it with a bunch of goodies: felt flowers, ribbons (including the now retired Baja Breeze which is Diana's favorite), library clibs, Pretties Kit flowers, Hodgepodge Hardware, etc.  I got the idea for the box from Monika Davis.  She used a different scallop punch but since that one isn't in my supplies yet, I used my standard scallop punch, but it can be done without a punch.  Basically, you just need a square divided into nine equal smaller squares like a Tic-Tac-Toe board.  In the corner squares, you need to also score on a diagonal so it folds in.  Monika did such a great job with her tutorial I won't try to recreate, just follow the link for more details.  I used Bermuda Bay card stock, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, and the retired felt flowers in Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink.  I would have used my new Sweet Pea Stitched Felt but couldn't find them.

When I got to work, Diana was not at her desk so I set up her box and cards so they'd be the first things she saw when she returned to her desk.  Happy Birthday again to Diana, I hope that you had more wonderful surprises waiting for you after work.

God Bless and Happy Stampin!

Charity